The upside-down quality of the meeting between Obama and French PresidentFrançois Hollande was painful to watch. The attacks in Paris have energized and emboldened Hollande, but Obama again oozed an air of “this too shall pass.” A week after he shamefully called the Paris slaughter a “setback,” he’s still in a fog of his own making.

He refuses to call the spreading cancer what it plainly is — Islamic terrorism. Instead, he has adopted the Arabic pejorative for Islamic State, Daesh, perhaps believing he can insult the barbarians to death.

What he won’t do is assert American leadership when it is needed most. Without the world’s military and economic superpower leading the charge, there can be no real charge.

Thankfully, Hollande is not giving up. His Washington visit is part of a frenetic shuttle mission to assemble a coalition that he hopes will smash Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and break up its murderous networks across Europe.